As part of our calendar, NHS Greater Huddersfield and North Kirklees CCGs have recently released the findings of three/two engagement events (in which the public are approached to get involved in identifying and giving opinions on what we need to do to ensure a good standard of healthcare through commissioning).

The three engagement reports are outlined below:

Mental Health Rehabilitation and Recovery Engagement

NHS Greater Huddersfield and North Kirklees CCGs, who buy (commission) healthcare for local people, want to improve local mental health services. As you may be aware engagement took place between August and October 2018 so that local people could tell us what else we need to do to ensure that we can support people in the local community with complex mental health needs. The CCGs worked with Kirklees Council to gather views on:

– The type of Rehabilitation and Recovery services, including supported accommodation, people would like to see (this would include looking at the current service based at Enfield Down); and

– What good community services for mental health could look like, including helping to keep people well and the type of support that needs to be in place

The CCGs, along with Kirklees Council and current providers will work together to develop future services using the views of local people. The report and findings can be found in full here.

Joined Up Yorkshire and Humber

This involved a series of surveys, case studies, focus groups and workshops that looked at how the NHS and other care providers access patient data. The proposal is for a digital care record which enables clinical and care staff to access real-time health and care information across health and social care providers, and between different systems.

The proposed system would allow providers to access a core of information about patients who have used services provided by their GP, local hospitals, community healthcare, social services or mental health teams. Better data sharing also has the potential to improve preventative health services and to help vulnerable people in our communities to remain living independently at home for as long as possible by providing appropriate support. The research was targeted at a wide and diverse range of people, with the participants being asked questions including:

Should health and care information be shared at all?

What should that information be used for?

How much do people trust organisations with their information?

Are people willing to be engaged in their own health management?

What concerns do people have about their information being used?

The Yorkshire and Humber Care Record conducted the above research and have published the findings here.

North Kirklees CCG Engagement Event

NHS North Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is committed to hold regular engagement events to give the public and representatives of the voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations an opportunity to hear about the work that the CCG has been doing, our priorities, challenges and plans for the future. As well as hearing the presentations, attendees are able to take part in discussions and share their views. At the event held in December 2018 we discussed what sort of information should be used to improve the health and social care services people receive. A copy of the report from the event can be found here.

We would like to thank everyone who gave their time to share their views and supported the engagement activities.